The World that Could Have Been
by Mal Masque
Summary: A month has passed since Meteora's defeat and Queen Moon's disappearance, and now Star has temporarily assumed the throne, trying to piece together a divided Mewni. During times of strife, many look towards the legends of old, but one in particular from the war-torn past may come forth, in the form of a Silver Knight. (Set one month after Season 3)
1. Legend of the Silver Knight

_**... And so too did Mewman-kind face a terrible onslaught of monsters.**_

 _After the siege of Castle Skava, the Monsters struck back against the Mewman army twentyfold, seemingly ever without number. When one was cut down, three more would take its place in their horrific horde. The Royal Army was forced to withdraw, as the fierce leader of the Monsters, Gabaloth the Foul, set upon the soldiers and knights with foul curses that sapped their strength and made them easy prey for the hated Monsters. It was only with the might and righteous fury of the great Queen Solaria, the Monster Carver, that Mewmanity stood a chance, but even she could not last against the unending tide of Monsters. Soon, hope did arrive to save the Mewman forces and turn the tide of battle. Amidst a crusade against the Monsters in the Southern Swamps, Queen Solaria discovered a prisoner of the Monsters, a giant of a knight adorned in fantastical silver armor, carrying with him a tremendous sword of light and an unbreakable towering shield, smithed by no hands of this world. Upon being freed by Queen Solaria, the Silver Knight swore fealty to the Queen and gave her his aid in the battles against the Monster menace. No warrior before Queen Solaria had ever been as powerful or as wise as the Silver Knight, every battle this giant of an armored man fought in, victory was ever assured, as he performed incredible feats of magic without aid of a wand; tossing gouts of blue flames from his hands and unleashing storms of lightning from his very fingertips. Thousands of Monsters fell by the score between the combined efforts of Queen Solaria and the Silver Knight, finally bringing the war to the end by slaying the dreaded Gabaloth within his own putrid fortress of Nar-ghull. With victory declared and the Monsters driven back into the dark holes from whence they came, Queen Solaria proclaimed a celebration in honor of the Silver Knight, the Feast of Silver. Three days after the conclusion of the battle, the Silver Knight took his leave, disappearing into the Monster lands and telling Queen Solaria that "His Eternal Crusade was unfinished". A monument to the Silver Knight was created by Queen Solaria in the Mewni Castle in the Royal Gardens, and his legend has been recorded into the eternal records of Mewman History as "The Legend of the Silver Knight"..._


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One:** _ **Queen's Lament**_

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"- with such damages to the North, South, East AND Western Farms and Plantations, the corn supplies of the region have taken a drastic pitfall, BUT, with proper support from the council and other government officials, my Queen, the people may be rallied to work hard to bring up food supplies before the coming winter. What are your thoughts on this matter, Your Highness?" The members of the court turned in silence towards the throne, expectantly waiting for an answer from their recently anointed sovereign queen. All that came from her lips was an extremely tired snore, and the tentative drip of drool from her lips nearly dropping onto the floor. One quick shake on the shoulder from the nearby guards and Star Butterfly's bright blue eyes snapped wide open.

"Y-yeah, I definitely think a relief concert would be a great idea!" Star hastily said, wiping the drool of her cheek with her arm and running a hand through her frayed blonde hair. The court scribe, Manfred, shook his upturned nose and looked up from his scroll with a tired expression.

"Your Majesty," Manfred said, a sigh on the verge of coming forth. "We were discussing the Corn Deficit and Harvesting Issues. A relief concert will not help with that, interesting idea it may be." Star sighed and slumped backwards in her seat on the throne, her sky-blue dress fraying a bit from the pressure bearing down on her.

"Right, right…" Star said, frowning heavily. "So… We just need to get more people doing the farming stuff, right? Just until we have enough food until things return to normal?"

"Not quite, Your Grace." Manfred said, snapping open the scroll again and skimming through the contents with narrowed eyes. "A majority of farmland was destroyed in the wake of Meteora's rampage, having people return to farms that do not exist anymore is highly problematic, if not slightly impossible. The primary matter is the construction of new farms, while also tending to the crop harvest before food supplies run incredibly low. For the sake of proper information, I will repeat the proceedings again." Star inwardly groaned, sinking into her seat further as Manfred resumed his aimless ramblings, on and on. If only the chair would just swallow her up and call it a day, but no, the throne wasn't built for that. It was built for a Queen to lead. But Star still wasn't ready to become a Queen just yet.

A month had passed since it all happened, since Meteora went on a rampage and drained nearly every soul in all of Mewni in an effort to claim the throne for herself. A month since nearly every peaceful Monster community and village abandoned Mewni itself, fearful of continued persecution in a world that no longer welcomed them. A month since the Magic High Commission revealed the truth behind the Butterfly Family's history, and the subterfuge regarding the daughter of Queen Eclipsa. A month since Star gave up her Wand to stop said daughter from destroying Mewni and it fell in the hands of the Queen of Darkness herself. A month since Star's own mother, Queen Moon Butterfly, disappeared without a trace, lost amongst the infinite worlds. A month since Star had become the new Acting Queen of Mewni. A month that Star Butterfly truthfully wished never happened.

Ever since then, all of Star's time had been dedicated to putting Mewni back together. Day and night, all she did was meet with royal officials and members of Mewni's kingdoms, talking and talking about getting results done. Hours of her day were sapped away talking about tariffs and meetings and all sorts of things that just went over her head most of the time, all except for the matters of everything being **bad.** Star didn't tackle it alone, thankfully. Her dad, King River, handled the military matters with the Knights and, occasionally, help from Mina Loveberry (despite her currently being in big trouble for inadvertently causing Meteora to begin her rampage), and the other Royal Families and regional allies were doing their best to help. Star still stood by her choice regarding forbidding the Magic High Commission from being involved in anything, they needed to earn her trust after the generations of secrecy and lies. None of them, no matter how hard they begged or offered valid points. And Marco and Tom… those two were practically the only thing holding her together these days. Her squire and her boyfriend, the two closest people she had… and even then, it wasn't enough.

"YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS!" Manfred repeated, for possibly the fifth time as Star dazed off again, immediately snapping to attention. Though always sporting a snooty and churlish expression, Star rarely saw the royal scribe and speaker truly angry or irritated, and this was borderline close. "Can you please pay attention to these important matters regarding the food of our entire kingdom?"

"Yeah, yeah, Manfred…" Star tiredly said, rubbing one of her tired eyes with two fingers. "I'm sorry I'm so out of it, Rich Pigeon talked my ear off for hours about how we were going to reimburse him for his damaged castle and… ugh, I'm so exhausted."

"You can have your rest _after_ we finish the rounds, Your Highness." Manfred sternly said. "Honestly, this would have been finished hours ago were Queen Moon preceding…" Star immediately hopped onto her feet, tiredness washed away by a wave of anger.

"I'm not my Mom, DON'T COMPARE ME LIKE THAT!" Star shouted, gritting her teeth. "She's not here, and I'm sorry I'm not doing the best I can without her! I just - ARGH!" Star threw up her arms and stormed her way out of the throne room. "Court dismissed or whatever!" Despite the protests from a few of the courtiers and a sudden realization of what was said from Manfred himself, Star had already run off, face red with anger and eyes wet with tears. She knew he was right, her Mom was better at this, while Star only knew the barest of basic spells, and yet without a wand, she was very little than a girl wearing a crown in need of help. Through the halls of the castle, Star ran, going around the corners and past concerned guards, anxious servants, and construction workers hastily working to repair the damaged castle. Star made her way to one of the few places untouched by the rampage of Meteora, a place of solitude where she could rest and be safe: The Royal Gardens. Star slowed her running to a gradual walk, before finally coming to a rest amongst various larger-than-life statues of Mewman's past. Star sat herself down on a bench, staring downtrodden at her shoes with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, there you are." Star turned her head at the sound of the voice, and saw him standing there, red hoodie and concerned smile on his gentle face. Marco Diaz, Star's own Squire and best friend (though possibly more, but those are whacked out issues that have been taken to the side in favor of fixing Mewni), made his way down the steps of the garden and joined Star's side. "I heard Manfred shouting frantic apologies and figured I was needed." Star sniffled and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I… I shouldn't have snapped…." Star admitted, glancing back down on the ground. "I know he's only doing his job and everyone's all stressed after Meteora happened and Eclipsa having the wand, but…" Star sniffled again, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging herself tightly. "I'm not ready for this. I thought I had it all together when Meteora attacked, but I'm… Marco, I'm not ready." Marco frowned, furrowing his brow and rubbing the back of his head. Star had been a mess for the past few days, but he never saw her this broken up by everything. Doing his best, Marco placed his hand on Star's shoulder, giving her a small pat for comfort, and immediately finding himself pulled into a tight hug.

"Star, you're doing good already." Marco softly said, gently patting Star's back while she hugged onto him. "I mean, we're having a rough start, but I can almost guarantee that we'll get everything back up and running. Besides, you're not doing it alone." Star lifted her head up from Marco's chest, giving hopeful eyes. "Yeah, you've got me and Tom, your Dad, Kelly, even Ponyhead's helping out in her… own way. We've got this." Star glanced down again briefly, before giving a small chuckle and sat back up, pressing her hands against the stone rest of the bench.

"Thanks for the pep talk, Marco." Star earnestly said. "I really needed it."

"Anytime, Star." Marco flashed Star a friendly smile. "Just doing my job as friend and squire, y'know?" The two shared a small chuckle for a bit, revelling at this small reprieve from the chaos of work, work, and more work, only to fall into more awkward silence again. Marco could tell that Star was still glum, and knew a good distraction would probably help out a bit, albeit for a short time.

"So… Cool statues here, huh?" Marco said, gesturing to the gathered knight statues surrounding the two in the garden. Star nodded and looked up to their stoney observers.

"Yeah, these guys are the Legends of Mewni, people who did amazing things way back when, most of them being Heroes." Star offhandedly gestured to the side. "I think there's a statue of Mina Loveberry nearby, but most of these right here are some of the really old ones." Marco nodded and looked around at the statues. There were some really impressive ones here indeed, nearly all of knights in valiant and stunning poses, or even average people doing things that made them spectacular. Though one in particular seemed to catch his eye, just over to their right: an enormous marble statue of a knight dressed in massive, intricate armor, carrying an equally large tower shield depicting a skull and raising a tremendous sword up to the heavens. It seemed to shine with a bright presence, imposing and grand unlike any other.

"What's the story behind that one?" Marco pointed to the statue. Star stood up and followed Marco's hand and her face lit up.

"That's the Silver Knight. He's one of the oldest legends from Mewni's history and super cool!" Star pulled Marco onto his feet and led him to the statue itself. Marco had to crane his neck a bit to look up at the statue itself, it was even larger up close, like standing before a giant! "Apparently, he fought alongside Queen Solaria during the Mewman-Monster Wars that led to Mewnipendance Day, and did all kinds of crazy things that nobody else can ever do. Stuff like… Throwing fire and shooting lightning from his hands!" Star made a wild, mimicking gesture, making small explosion sounds from her mouth, prompting a few chuckles from Marco. "He even took down a big Monster General all by himself, some weird big blue bird-thing that could actually use magic! I don't remember the whole story, but I remember Dad telling me about it when I was little." Star looked back up at the helmeted head of the statue, a light breeze flowing through the garden and picking up her lengthy blonde hair. "They said he was a miracle, showed up when he was needed most, then left when his job was done…." Her face fell alongside her head, crossing her hands across her lap with a weary look on her face. "Could definitely use one of those right now."

"Maybe we'll get one, Star." Marco stood behind Star, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving a reassuring look. "Now, c'mon, you wanna go to the kitchen and get some ice cream to take your mind off things?" Star looked up and silently nodded. "Awesome, we'll get the big bowls and big spoons." Marco and Star began walking their way out of the Royal Gardens, but Star paused momentarily, glancing behind her to look back at the Silver Knight statue. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds.

 _Please, send a miracle._ Star wished within her mind. _Anything, just to fix everything up until Mom comes back. Please..._

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 _I have no knowledge on how long I have been wandering, nor do I know where I have gone. For what felt like an eternity, I wandered through the Gardens, fighting all that came my way in my righteous Crusade against these foul creatures, but I am not where the Daemons are. These are not the foul, rotting swamps they called 'Gardens', these trees are different. The sky is not filled with a nightmarish swirl of warped clouds, nor the screams of anguish from those lost amidst the accursed domain, rather clear skies above and the light noises of small beasts and critters scampering about. I have left the Gardens, but these woods… They remind me of someplace I once was. Was it back during my training as an Initiate? No, I did not feel the crunching of leaves under my armored boots as I do now, nor the chirping of birds within my helm. Yet why, why do I find this place so familiar? Do the Dark Gods have more to taunt me with, after I have done them so much damage? Or have I finally escaped that immaterial void and returned to reality? No matter what the answer is, I must continue onwards. May my journey be watched over by Him, and that my return to the Eternal Crusade may be hastened. For now, I march onwards, through these woods that I do not know, yet… know all the same. By the Golden Throne, where am I?_

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 _Author's Note_ : Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest of stories from the Masquerade Theater! Here's an interesting take on a story, for those of you familiar with the craziness of the Warhammer universes (both Fantasy and 40,000), but for those of you unfamiliar, hopefully you'll find yourselves drawn in by mystery, intrigue, and all other kinds of buzz-words to gain excitement! For now, we'll have to settle with the prologue and opening chapter, but here's a moment of curiosity to see if you guys can make a few guesses regarding the Silver Knight. Keep 'em to yourselves, for now, but stay posted for later updates! This is Mal Masque, signing off!

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 **Thought For the Day:** "A torch shines brightest in the darkness when shared amongst those trusted."


End file.
